In “Demolition Man,” John Spartan is revived in San Angeles, the future city formed from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara.
The film opens in 1996, when Spartan and criminal Simon Phoenix are cryogenically frozen after a disastrous confrontation. They are awakened in 2032, when Phoenix escapes and the authorities decide Spartan is the only officer experienced enough to stop him.
San Angeles is presented as a superficially peaceful, highly controlled society governed by Dr. Raymond Cocteau. Its apparent harmony contrasts with Spartan’s aggressive policing style and Phoenix’s violent criminality. The city’s name is a deliberate geographical mash-up rather than the name of a real municipality.
A common mix-up is confusing San Angeles with the film’s California Cryo-Penitentiary, where Spartan is imprisoned, or with fictional cities from other dystopian films such as Mega-City One. San Angeles is the city in which the revived Spartan begins his 2032 mission.